Methods for optimizing battery use for a known future load are described. In an embodiment, one or more battery cells are selected from a set of battery cells to provide power to a computing-based device. The battery cells are selected based on discharge profile data for each battery cell and both the current power requirement and a known future power requirement of the computing-based device. The known future power requirement is calculated based on information available to the operating system running on the computing-based device. In some examples, one or more battery cells may also be selected for charging when a power source is available and these cells may be selected based on charge profile data and the known future power requirement. The selection of the battery cells may also be made in order to satisfy a battery optimization goal, which may be defined by a user.